Broker wins $3.8M in ex-client’s bankruptcy

Edie Laquer
Edie Laquer

Miami Beach broker Edie Laquer won a $3.8 million settlement in the bankruptcy case of a former client, Daily Business Review reported.

Laquer sued the client, real estate investor Michael Samuel, in 2004 to validate her interest in the Midtown Miami project, the Review reported, citing Miami-Dade Circuit Court records. In 2007, Samuel sold his stake in Midtown without paying Laquer her share.

Laquer was awarded an amended partial final judgment of $2.44 million in 2010 and $772,000 in attorney fees, interest and other costs in December 2011, according to the newspaper.

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In February 2012, Laquer filed a new lawsuit against Samuel over allegations that he fraudulently conveyed a Midtown property to his wife, Deborah. Three months later, Michael Samuel filed a voluntary Chapter 7 petition in Miami.

Earlier this summer, Laquer was awarded $720,000 in a separate case against real estate investor Hank Sopher and New York-based developer Shaya Boymelgreen.

“I hope that others in the real estate industry, whether as partners in transactions or as brokers, elect to hang in and pursue what is rightfully theirs,” Laquer said Monday, according to the paper. [Daily Business Review]Emily Schmall